A.J. Burnett Rumors: Thursday

Multiple teams are discussing right-hander A.J. Burnettwith the Yankees, according to yesterday's rumors. The right-hander vetoed a trade to the Angels, so it's down to the Pirates and at least one unknown club. Burnett will earn $33MM between now and the end of the 2013 season, and the question of how much money the Yankees absorb figures to shape trade talks. Here are the latest rumors as we await resolution on a deal:

The Yankees and Pirates are nearing a deal that would send Burnett to Pittsburgh for two marginal prospects and $13-15MM in salary relief, reports George A. King III of The New York Post. "It will happen this weekend,'' said King's source. "Probably Saturday.''

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees have countered the Pirates offer with a sliding scale, meaning they'd have to surrender lesser prospects the closer they get to eating $15MM of the $33MM left on Burnett's contract. He says it would be an upset if he's not traded before the Yankees open camp on Sunday (allTwitterlinks).

Ken Davidoff of Newsday reminds us (on Twitter) that MLB will need to approve any trade because of the large amount of cash changing hands.

The Yankees and Pirates know which players would go from Pittsburgh to New York if the Pirates take on $13MM in salary, Davidoff tweets.

The Yankees and Pirates should complete a deal within 24 hours, according to Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio and ESPN.com (on Twitter).

A team other than the Pirates and Indians made a proposal for Burnett yesterday and the Yankees appear to be approaching a decision, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (Twitterlinks). Burnett told the Yankees three weeks ago that he would block a trade to Anaheim.

Considerable optimism exists that the Yankees and Pirates will work out a deal, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Heyman adds that the Yankees will pay $20MM of Burnett's contract.

Comments

I still think he should be traded to the Astros. Houston is a larger media market than Pittsburgh, the market could support his salary and the team could use another starter.

Burnett’s salary, even after the Yankees eat much of it, will consume too much of the Pirates payroll and would hurt the team. The Pirates will earn as much all season as the Yankees could make in a few games at home.

The Pirates can afford to pay $5 mil a year for a 200 inning starter. That’s not going to break them. AND if AJ performs well/decently and the Pirates aren’t competing then his salary would not be difficult at all for them to move to a contender looking to solidify the back of their rotation.

Why? He and his family are based in Maryland. His wife does not want to move to the West coast. So, the Phillies, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Braves and Marlins are the best landing spots for AJ. As is the Indians , since that is not as far away from his home base

I don’t follow them much, but If the 5 slots don’t work out due to injury/ineffectiveness Burnett(if doing well) could be a nice 5.Then again, the Phillies are already old as heck, so adding another old guy isn’t necessarily good.

being a Mets fan , I don’t get why you are so concerned about the Pirates salary. You need to be concerned about the Mets now bordering on acting like a small market team..
Selig needs to run the Wilpons out of town and force them to sell. No, the Mets will never be able to comptete with the Yankees salary level, but it is still unacceptable to have a payroll under 100 million or bordering just over it when you are supposed to be a major market team that is based in NY.
Have fun in an empty Citifield as the Mets finish last and the Marlins and Nationals pass your team up and get better, while the Mets get worst.
Look up. At least next year, the Mets will be one of the first 6 teams to pick in the draft.

If you’re talking about trades, then saying “instead of the other way around” doesn’t make sense. Obviously unless it’s a player straight up for cash (which might be a first for the Yankees) , a trade would have to involve players on both teams.

Seriously man, have some coffee. It’s very simple- usually the Yankees are attempting to acquire the established player from the Pirates in exchange for prospects, this time it’s the Pirates attempting to acquire the established player from the Yankees in exchange for prospects. Therefore, the trade is “the other way around” from what we’re used to seeing between these teams. Add a turbo shot too, maybe, on me 😉

It was the way he wrote it. By saying “instead of the other way around”, it seems as if he’s saying the Yankees get all Pirate players and the Pirates don’t get any Yankee players. Well unless the Pirates give up players and the Yankees only give up cash in previous trades, then obviously you can’t say “instead of the other way around”, considering both teams gave up players in trades.

Ah, hm, yes… I see what you’re talking about there. I think there’s a perception that the Yankees use their Pirates as a minor league affiliate by stealing players in lopsided trades. But, as Todd points out down there, that obviously hasn’t been the case in recent years.

Legitimate potential but let’s not act as if he’s performed up the standards as a #2 over the last two years. If he PERFORMED like a legitimate #2 then I guarantee you the Yanks wouldn’t be looking to move him.

Salary dumps are usually for teams that can’t afford a guy and want someone to take all of their salary and ask for little in return.In this case the Yanks are probably eating $20 mil and want a couple of “decent” (no top 10 organization ranked is my guess) prospects in return.

Thought about this AJ Burnett trade… I’ve fallen on the side of being against it. The dude is 35, has been out of his prime, and comes with a price tag of 15 million over two years. I asked myself, what is he going to do for this team? I don’t think he’s going to be a catalyst and I don’t think he has ever been a leader; so he is not going to really mentor the younger guys. I think the Pirates would make this move partially to bring in a name. I feel their intentions are not just to bring in a “good” player, but to also create a buzz in the fan base so they buy tickets (which jumped up a bit in prices this offseason). Overall, I think this trade is going against what the Pirates have been preaching to do. I understand they need to spend money, but I think this Burnett deal is them trying to make a desperate move late. We shall see.

I glad Neil Huntington is standing his ground and not being pushed around by the Yankees. The only thing he should do now is to set a time when the deal should be done or its off the table! It’s not like the Pirates need AJ, they just want AJ!! The Pirates have other internal options that could fill in just fine.

The Nationals don’t need starting pitching. They have Zimmermann, Strasburg, Gonzalez, and Jackson before you get to Lannan, Wang, and some young guys. No chance they’d shell out for another starter making real money.

The price tag for the Pirates will be somewhere between $5-6 million a year, and it’s only a two-year commitment. That’s pretty light by today’s standards. In return, they get a guy who should start 30+ games and pitch 190+ innings. Burnett’s ERA against non-AL East teams is a more reasonable 4.15, and add in a move to the DH-less NL, and it’s not hard to see Burnett putting up an ERA 3.90-4.10 range. Certainly worth the money.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a fan of Neal Huntington and I appreciate the fact that he actually has a plan and is sticking by it. However, he does need to get better with his major league acquisitions and it’s a tired act to keep pushing the window of contention further and further back.

With that said, if Dave Littlefield was making this same trade, he would be mocked to no end, but it’s seemingly ok because Huntington is doing it.

Cashman has been clear. More money, lesser prospects. Less money, better prospects.

If Pittsburgh doesn’t want him for $5 to $6-1/2 million per year and some middling prospects, either the Yankees trade him elsewhere or hold on to him until the trade deadline when the Yankees would be likely to get more for him anyway. No great shakes for the Yankees in any case.

Frankly, the trade has much greater implications for the Pirates and their pitching.

If it happens, I expect the Pirates to get the better of the deal, just as they always have in deals with the Yankees in recent years.

Those were mostly deadline deals where the Pirates could afford to take advantage of the Yankees’ desparation to contend. The Yankees don’t have to trade Burnett, but if they do there is no way they can “lose” the deal since he’s already proven failure in NY, his replacements will likely out-pitch him and they’re saving money even if the prospects never turn into anything.

Those were mostly deadline deals where the Pirates could afford to take advantage of the Yankees’ desparation to contend. The Yankees don’t have to trade Burnett, but if they do there is no way they can “lose” the deal since he’s already proven failure in NY, his replacements will likely out-pitch him and they’re saving money even if the prospects never turn into anything.

Agreed…but I’m getting a little worried. If I see Grossman or ZVR mentioned in the MLBTR report when this finally gets done, I’m going to throw up. Throw them Matt Curry or Calvin Anderson, or another low league guy. No way should they get a top-20 or so prospect.

I totally agree with you. No Grossman, ZVR, Dodson, Kingman, Black, Cain, Cunningham, etc. I don’t even want them to give up Curry. How about Quinton Miller and Calvin Anderson? Or David Rubenstein and Trent Stevenson?

The Yankees don’t have to trade Burnett, they choose to because they can. This trade will have little impact on the MLB roster so the Pirates don’t have any more leverage than the Yankees do except they have a ML need and the Yankees don’t when it comes to this deal.

The way AJ Burnett is burning a hole in the Yankees roster reminds me a little bit of the way Nick Swisher burned a hole in the Chicago White Sox roster — insofar as a little extra circumspection would probably lead / have led to far better trading terms. I’ve been a Burnett apologist ever since he single-handedly saved the ’09 World Series for us Yankee fans, and I’ve said it before over the past few days, but seriously: Does it really make sense to trade this guy at the precise moment that the spread between his trade-market value and his true value is at its least favorable to the team? The guy pitches six times this coming season the way he did against Boston on September 1st last year, and all would be forgiven, I guarantee it.

I’m with you. Good AJ is still pretty good. Bad AJ kills you, but with an offense like the Yanks they can save the game if its not that bad. AJ had a solid start to the season last year. Decent number by the break and fell off in August. I’m not saying he is worth his contract, but he is far from the dregs of mlb starting pitching.

On the other hand, saving $10M+ over two years and signing a DH is probably whats best for the team with their abundance of SP.

I guess I’m still getting hung up on the whole – “she won’t fly thing”. Since when is Pittsburgh a stone’s throw from NY? You’re talking an almost 7 hr drive each way. Can’t see the wife making that drive on a regular basis. If she’s in Baltimore then it’s still almost 5 hours.

That’s a heck of a lot closer than LA but is she really going to be traveling frequently to those other cities?

Why not get knocked out and fly on a private jet to the West Coast when you want to watch him pitch in person.

Makes sense that Baltimore would be the Mystery team. They are eating a huge plate of crow courtesy of Korean Baseball. Pittsburgh could use that arm. The Nats? No. Philly? Bullpen only. Miami? Perhaps….

I doubt mcgehee is getting traded he will be splitting time with both alverez and and jones at 1st and 3rd. so I dont see mcgehee being traded. i doubt its even a three team trade. but wouldnt mind Alverez going to NY, a lefty bat with some power. i would just take him for AJ and cash

I like Burnett going to Pittsburgh. I don’t think pitching in baseball’s toughest division for the past six years is the soul indicator of value. Looking on fangraphs, his xfip was nearly a run lower than his era the past two seasons, which shows that he is not a terrible pitcher but is just a victim of bad luck

I like Burnett going to Pittsburgh. I don’t think pitching in baseball’s toughest division for the past six years is the soul indicator of value. Looking on fangraphs, his xfip was nearly a run lower than his era the past two seasons, which shows that he is not a terrible pitcher but is just a victim of bad luck

NO!!!! Don’t back down now Neil!!! Stand your ground!! Only $10.0 Mil is what you will take on…..No more!!!! Walk away if you have to because you don’t NEED AJ, You just want AJ!!!! STAND YOUR GROUND!!!!!

Burnett has to be traded before reporting to Yankees camp. There’s no way this headcase does well with NY after they actively shopped him. He’ll also get booed out of the Stadium when he pitches poorly.

Need another starter and we’re gonna get that. We wouldn’t be in this situation if we were able to lure in bigger named players like we tried this off season (Oswalt, Jackson) we couldn’t get them so take a chance on Burnett. He’s pitching in a tough division, going to a weak one might be what he needs. “marginal” prospect isn’t going to be a very good prospect. We built our system up for a reason. Taking the right steps.

Weaver, Haren, Wilson, Santana, an unspectacular farm system outside of Mike Trout, 4 huge contracts with Pujols, Wells, Hunter, Abreu. Why on earth are the Angels even being mentioned as a possibility?

According to John Heyman, the pirates would have to give up 2 non-roster prospects to the yankees and also eat money. The Pirates organization is probably thinking, “we are already taking AJ Burnett off your hands, why must we give you prospects too?!”

I think instead of signing Ibanez it makes sense for the Yanks to trade for Carlos Lee they tried for Hafner that deal fell apart, they tried for Garett Jones the Bucs said no, and they got Abreu but AJ said no, so I think it’s obvious they’d rather have a DH from trade then Damon, Ibanez, Matsui, or the recently acquired Russell Branyan or even Andruw Jones so I think Lee would be a great fit for the Yanks and I think AJ would be a good fit for the Astors plus Houston is sort of close to his home in Nebraska I think a bench with Jones, Nunez, Cervelli,

well obviously people in Pittsburgh and possibly 3 other markets care.
here’s a thought. why not just ignore the post? that’s what i normally do when i see uninteresting posts, usually about the pirates, astros, mariners, etc.

Yes, he has a limited no trade clause. Usually that mean he has the right t veto a trade to 10 teams. Its been said his wife want him to stay close to their Baltimore home as she doesn’t like to fly. Therefore, the list I made was an educated guess as to which teams are on his unpublished. List.

he was a great clubhouse guy, and idk about that one interview you saw, but the guy always held himself accountable, and he sure didnt enjoy being booed all year. He won us a ring, and thats all I care about. He wanted to stay close to his family, whats wrong with that?

so you base that opinion off of 1 interview. look, aj has been a disappointment on the field the last two years but his personality has been top notch and he really brought something positive to the clubhouse and has almost always owned up to his suckage.

is that all you have to say is he had an era over 2 out of the 3 years with the yankees? his ERA in all 3 years total with the yankees is 4.79 the highest in his full career. while with florida and toronto it was under 3.73 with florida and 3.93 with toronto. so obviously it was just the pressure of playing for a high market team that got to him.

So you watched one interview? How about watching the other 32-33 other interviews after his starts, if you would have watched them you would know that AJ is in front of his locker after every start no matter how bad or good talking to the media with no excuses whatsoever! I understand one’s argument that Burnett is a bad pitcher (partially true), but the argument that he is a bad guy and is unaccountable for his bad starts and doesn’t care is absolutely absurd and is ridiculous, just stop because it is completely and utterly false (I, for one, have watched almost all his post-game interviews and he takes full responsibility for his poor starts).

I know. I’m sure he’s contemplating using the razor to end it all. I wonder if he’ll choose the solid gold one, the platinum one, the diamond one….its so tough to choose how to end it when you’ve only got $33 million more coming your way…oh the humanity of suffering in a city that would appreciate you.